protoevangelion (thing)

Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.", is sometimes called the protoevangelion. It is generally considered by Christians to be the first prophecy of the life of Christ. The words are spoken by "the LORD God" to the serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Christians interpret this to be a warning to Satan that, one day, a descendant of Eve would come. Satan would wound him, but he would utterly defeat Satan. This was fulfilled, says this interpretation, when Christ was killed, presumably by some effort of Satan's (See John 13:2: "And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;"), and Christ, rising from the dead, conquered Satan in his apparent moment of triumph.